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NASA’s Mars Rover Perseverance is trackable via Geocaching! (TB5EFXK)


MissJenn

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3 hours ago, on4bam said:
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Tracking code

This code is on the trackable item. It is meant to be seen only by people who have the trackable in their hands.

 

That's never going to happen.

 

Except we all know that it's not a requirement as people can share codes or use them on things that are not literally "held in their hands". So if you choose to live by that ethic, then great :) But ain't nothing wrong with 'discovering' a travelbug's tracking code as it was intended to be discovered. Now, picking up and moving a (traditional) travelbug by its tracking code, that's a different story :P

 

I hope HQ has placed the perseverance TB into its owner's collection so no one will "mistakenly" grab it from Mars :laughing:

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36 minutes ago, thebruce0 said:

Except we all know that it's not a requirement as people can share codes or use them on things that are not literally "held in their hands".

 

Right in the Help Center it does say, "Logging trackables that you have not personally seen is strongly discouraged. It is up to the trackable owner to state if they allow this."

I'd say in this promotion, that's been given.    :)

 

Edited by cerberus1
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9 minutes ago, on4bam said:

But you see the car, not a photograph of it. You are at the same location the car trackable is.

 

But that's not what you implied by your quote:

 

5 hours ago, on4bam said:
Quote

This code is on the trackable item. It is meant to be seen only by people who have the trackable in their hands.

 

That's never going to happen.

 

 

9 minutes ago, on4bam said:

Fair enough, but it's these kind of "exceptions" that makes people create their own rules.

 

It's not an "exception", it's the accepted nature and function of travelbugs, and has been for many years. No one can "make their own rules". It's either allowed or not. People may or may not like certain ethics, but that's different.

 

10 minutes ago, on4bam said:

In THIS case it's OK to log it (but I won't) but there are enough examples in these forums where people complain their trackables were logged because someone saw a picture of it with the code visible or worse, saw the code on a list.

 

Absolutely, because that was not the intended manner of discovery.

If someone shares it publicly, discovering is okay from around the world.

If someone drives it around the city, it's okay to discover it by spotting it on the road or in a lot.

If someone launches it to space and the code is revealed in a single photo to be discovered, it's okay.

So, if you choose not to log it, that's OK too :) But the Perseverance TB is nothing anywhere near like a personal TB code shared without consent to a private FB group that masses of people will log. The latter itself isn't reason not to log Perseverance on principle.

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2 minutes ago, RedDerek said:

It was great watching the landing. Even better when they released videos on Monday. First time a landing on another planet was videoed. They even had some audio of a wind gust.

I think back when I was a kid watching a launch at Cape Canaveral, never imagining I'd see a video and audio on Mars! Like someone else mentioned I get goosebumps every time I see it. And those raw images! 

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24 minutes ago, Max and 99 said:

The tracking code is on the WATSON camera’s calibration target. A few days after Perseverance lands on Mars, the camera will take a picture of the tracking code itself and send that picture back to Earth. You can log the Rover by finding the code in that picture.

 

Just now, simonswalker said:

I found the code, it takes me to the page, but it's still locked. When will it be opened?

When the camera sends the TB code from Mars to Earth. Soon! Yes, the image is available online, but the intent is to see it from the camera on Perseverance.

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It's not just photos from the Mars rover. There are multiple instruments and devices and cameras on board. It's a matter of when NASA gets around to SHERLOC and calibrating WATSON. When that happens, even if 100,000 other photos have been sent back (quite often thumbnails and random clicks and tests, heh), we'll get our specific calibration image :)

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3 hours ago, thebruce0 said:

It's not just photos from the Mars rover. There are multiple instruments and devices and cameras on board. It's a matter of when NASA gets around to SHERLOC and calibrating WATSON. When that happens, even if 100,000 other photos have been sent back (quite often thumbnails and random clicks and tests, heh), we'll get our specific calibration image :)

I'm more interested in the Mastcam-Z camera.  I really don't have any interest in adding a souvenir image to my profile for something that to me, doesn't seem to have anything to do with geocaching (other than the word cache is used in a different context).   However, my interest in the Masthead-Z,  Perseverance (as well as Spirit and Opportunity) comes from the fact that current and former employees where I work were significantly involved.  

Edited by NYPaddleCacher
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Sure. Apart from the travelbug that's on Mars, there's not much else at all related to geocaching. And there are plenty of communities watching the science and event. So if you've no interest in the TB, that's fine.  Our interest here is SHERLOC and WATSON with the calibration target.

And the intent that Percy will be "caching" samples on Mars to be recovered and returned to earth on a future mission. Plus the Earthcache connection highlighting locations with similar geology on Earth and Mars (but that's more a branding technicality since Earthcaches are a type of listing, not technically geocache containers).

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19 hours ago, SixPoppesGhosts said:

In the meantime, the rover has sent over 23,000 photos to Earth (according to NASA report from February 22, 2021). Where is the photo of the calibration plate with the TB tracking code?

 

Where do you see 23,000 photos sent back. The Raw Images page (Images from the Mars Perseverance Rover - NASA Mars) reports only 4,928 images as of 23:45 hours CT 02/23/2021.

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4 hours ago, Erikdena said:

J’ai trouvé le code, mais malheureusement la liste est verrouillée

Just be patient !! The code will be reveiled and free to discover logs when the LIVE PICTURE will be send and arrived at the NASA station on earth and reveiled in the pictures on the NASA page, where all the live pictures are presented every day. 

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On 2/22/2021 at 9:40 AM, on4bam said:

 

But you see the car, not a photograph of it. You are at the same location the car trackable is.

 

 

Fair enough, but it's these kind of "exceptions" that makes people create their own rules. In THIS case it's OK to log it (but I won't) but there are enough examples in these forums where people complain their trackables were logged because someone saw a picture of it with the code visible or worse, saw the code on a list.

 

With 99% of my trackables gone missing, stolen or getting lost, I made several of my favorites discoverable if people just look at the page. Sadly, with the advent of the smart app many more flash in the pan geocachers find trackables, pick them up, log them and never geocache again. So it is up to the owner or creator of the TB to decide how it’s logged. 

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15 hours ago, jamadad said:

Just read this on the link provided by longtomsilver, "Note: It may take several weeks for the photo to be taken and sent back to Earth."

Thought it was supposed to be only a few days, but we all might have a significant wait ahead of us.

Exactly. Sheloc (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals) will be deployed and used when the rover will reach some interesting samples to scan for signs of bygone life. I doubt it will be soon. The rover needs to be fully charged and tested, the big antenna deployed, the high bandwidth link established, a list of nearby regions of interest prioritized, the most effective route planned, the rover moved to the first sample, etc. Remember that the top speed of the rover is 152 meters per hour.

The previous rover, Mars Curiosity, landed on Mars August 5, 2012. It's test first drive was, on Aug. 22, 2012, almost 3 weeks later, going forward about 4.5 meters. I am not sure but I think it took more than a month to reach the first region of interest.

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